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What to do with too much work?

Bongofish

Active member
Messages
314
Location
Pontefract
I'm not quite at this point yet but work is flowing in fast now and with gutter cleanings, conservatory roofs and facia cleans I'm starting to work 6 days a week every week.

I like to keep my houses an average of 10 a day mon-friday so if I need to I can add more houses to one day and have a shirted day in the week. Admittedly all my days are no longer than 5 hours of straight work. However I'm getting alot of enquiries coming in and the new customers I've took on seem really annoying. Did 5 new houses today and everyone of them looked down at me, was hard to reach windows , really awkward extensions. 

So when it gets to the point of being happy with the amount I have at that time what should I do? I hate the idea of giving work away, but I also don't want to start not liking the job or feeling like I'm becoming in reliable because I've got so much work on?

 
Quote higher. Work smarter not harder!!!

If you are winning close to 100% of the work you quote then you can up your prices. Aim to win about 70% of your quotes. You can now relax a bit as you have enough work. If there is a job you don't fancy price it even higher, if you get it you just think how much you will earn doing it. If you don't get it no problem ? 

As for the people looking down on you, don't worry, just up your prices then you can smugly smile on the inside ? .

 
So when it gets to the point of being happy with the amount I have at that time what should I do? I hate the idea of giving work away, but I also don't want to start not liking the job or feeling like I'm becoming in reliable because I've got so much work on?
When you're earning enough to pay Bill's and put money aside, but not full, you should start quoting higher prices and get some good work on board. When you're nearly full you will then need to start putting existing customers prices up. This is how you'll maximise your earnings.

Either that or go down the employment route.

 
Quote higher. Work smarter not harder!!!

If you are winning close to 100% of the work you quote then you can up your prices. Aim to win about 70% of your quotes. You can now relax a bit as you have enough work. If there is a job you don't fancy price it even higher, if you get it you just think how much you will earn doing it. If you don't get it no problem ? 

As for the people looking down on you, don't worry, just up your prices then you can smugly smile on the inside ? .
Yeh I think your right and I'm going to add £2 onto every quote . The problem I have is in 8 months I've become known in my town for being the window cleaner. My town is a local town but with ALOT of houses , probably about 5,000 and all within a 5 min drive from home. And this is where 95% of my work comes from as I don't see a need to even reach out to other local villages. I hate to give away work that's on my doorstep but I am getting to a comfortable 180 customers a month and then 1 off jobs aswell. I'm not greedy and don't want to be making 4k a month....I'm happy to pull in £500-600 a week and have a good balance. But it's seriously hard tontrun down work that's 1 min drive from door step. ??

 
Yeh I think your right and I'm going to add £2 onto every quote . The problem I have is in 8 months I've become known in my town for being the window cleaner. My town is a local town but with ALOT of houses , probably about 5,000 and all within a 5 min drive from home. And this is where 95% of my work comes from as I don't see a need to even reach out to other local villages. I hate to give away work that's on my doorstep but I am getting to a comfortable 180 customers a month and then 1 off jobs aswell. I'm not greedy and don't want to be making 4k a month....I'm happy to pull in £500-600 a week and have a good balance. But it's seriously hard tontrun down work that's 1 min drive from door step. ??
Yeh its a funny old situation. never ceases to amaze me. You get one area, with quite high unemployment/not much about on the work front, yet plenty of work available for windies with people crying out for them. The opposite, where I live has really low unemployment, generally lots of work about, yet dozens of different window cleaners around. Looks like you have quite a nice predicament there, not really a problem ?

 
i remember when i used to have  around 3 days off a week.     week end + 1 - 2  days a week to do what i want.      Extra jobs.      Now i can go out 5 days a week,     a few hours on a Sat  .    Sold  a full days work a few months back, £260.  takings        but took some more newbies on.      So back to how i was.      Seems its always catch up.        Id like to work 4 day week.      Time to sell more work after new year.

No debt, house paid for.      All through window cleaning.     WFP.   

Dont know how old you are,    But if i started to take lads on and get another van  years ago  may have been different now.     May not be out as much myself.    Have more me time.  Sit at home watching Heart beat  & Places in the Sun.    haha.

You can take on too much .     Just sell some on .  Relax more

 
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i remember when i used to have  around 3 days off a week.     week end + 1 - 2  days a week to do what i want.      Extra jobs.      Now i can go out 5 days a week,     a few hours on a Sat  .    Sold  a full days work a few months back, £260.  takings        but took some more newbies on.      So back to how i was.      Seems its always catch up.        Id like to work 4 day week.      Time to sell more work after new year.

No debt, house paid for.      All through window cleaning.     WFP.   

Dont know how old you are,    But if i started to take lads on and get another van  years ago  may have been different now.     May not be out as much myself.    Have more me time.  Sit at home watching Heart beat  & Places in the Sun.    haha.

You can take on too much .     Just sell some on .  Relax more
You seem to be getting enough work if you go down that route  employing .  

 
I'm not quite at this point yet but work is flowing in fast now and with gutter cleanings, conservatory roofs and facia cleans I'm starting to work 6 days a week every week.

I like to keep my houses an average of 10 a day mon-friday so if I need to I can add more houses to one day and have a shirted day in the week. Admittedly all my days are no longer than 5 hours of straight work. However I'm getting alot of enquiries coming in and the new customers I've took on seem really annoying. Did 5 new houses today and everyone of them looked down at me, was hard to reach windows , really awkward extensions. 

So when it gets to the point of being happy with the amount I have at that time what should I do? I hate the idea of giving work away, but I also don't want to start not liking the job or feeling like I'm becoming in reliable because I've got so much work on?
price accordingly ,  why would they look down on you.   do you dress in work Logo gear.   Look smart .

 
Yeh I dress in good work gear, a polo shirt with logo on back, work trousers, Woolley hat for winter. I am quite tattoos but not facial or neck, just arms and hands and other parts of body that they won't see haha. But my tattoos arnt tacky and obviously being so busy 7 months in I'm guessing nobody is bothered. 

I'm young to some and middle aged to others at 34 and honestly think in this new posh street I've took on 5 new houses today that my age is a negative as there all older occupants and look at me like I'm wet behind the ears. 

 
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im asking age as you have  youth on your side  to expand with a decent employee.    who can drive.    .   Thats if you ever thought that way..    

 
I'm not quite at this point yet but work is flowing in fast now and with gutter cleanings, conservatory roofs and facia cleans I'm starting to work 6 days a week every week.

I like to keep my houses an average of 10 a day mon-friday so if I need to I can add more houses to one day and have a shirted day in the week. Admittedly all my days are no longer than 5 hours of straight work. However I'm getting alot of enquiries coming in and the new customers I've took on seem really annoying. Did 5 new houses today and everyone of them looked down at me, was hard to reach windows , really awkward extensions. 

So when it gets to the point of being happy with the amount I have at that time what should I do? I hate the idea of giving work away, but I also don't want to start not liking the job or feeling like I'm becoming in reliable because I've got so much work on?
I do about 20 houses a day all week and my employee does a fair few over 2 days a week and then I go home and visit the beer fridge?

20201127_163938.jpg

 
I do about 20 houses a day all week and my employee does a fair few over 2 days a week and then I go home and visit the beer fridge?

View attachment 22544
Love the beer fridge! 

20 customers a day by yourself? I could do this if all my. Houses were the perfect semi detached houses on the same street. I normally have to drive 1 min house to house and pack all gear up and out again. Like I say I'm happy with my £500+ a week and doing 25 hours, and it's not a work ethic thing as I used to work 60 hours a week lorry driving. I came into this game to make the equivalent but not to be working 12 hours a day. What do you do if it's really bad weather for 2 days straight? 40 customers in a week to catch up on is alot. Atleast my end. I also only have a 350l tank which is pretty much the max my little fiat van will take with everything else. 

 
That is what im after.   3/4 day week.       if you cannot make enough in 3/4 days work    you are doing something wrong.

' 57 tomorrow  im looking to ease off a bit.     Keep my easy accesable rounds .  best income rounds.

This seems to be a job that you can do in retirement.  a few days a week.     keep an income coming in.

As long as you are WFP cleaning.    Not as demanding  as Trad.  Ladder climbing.

You can earn in a few days what chaps will be working all week for.

If  some people knew exactly what we can earn a day,    There jaw drops.   They cannot believe it.      This is why i have sticked with it.

Yes may be embarrising sometimes when out in company and someone says what do you work at Johnny.     dare i say it Window Cleaner. haha     it has always had that Stigma.    Some people still see it that way.      

 
I do about 20 houses a day all week and my employee does a fair few over 2 days a week and then I go home and visit the beer fridge?

View attachment 22544
Nice, see the san miguels lurking there. Peroni is really nice in the tin. Also I was impressed with staropram ( prob spelt wrong) check lager in bottles. co op do 2 for £4, but are big 660 mm bottles. Menabrea in bottles is nectar too, get it in tesco. Often i go for the best deal though ?

 
Love the beer fridge! 

20 customers a day by yourself? I could do this if all my. Houses were the perfect semi detached houses on the same street. I normally have to drive 1 min house to house and pack all gear up and out again. Like I say I'm happy with my £500+ a week and doing 25 hours, and it's not a work ethic thing as I used to work 60 hours a week lorry driving. I came into this game to make the equivalent but not to be working 12 hours a day. What do you do if it's really bad weather for 2 days straight? 40 customers in a week to catch up on is alot. Atleast my end. I also only have a 350l tank which is pretty much the max my little fiat van will take with everything else. 
If it's bad weather oh well . I still work.

20 houses is easy.  All over the place and different sizes.

All done on a 400l tank in a bipper.

I have a reason to be working so much so I can create work for employees to then retire early 

 
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If it's bad weather oh well . I still work.

I have a reason to be working so much so I can create work for employees to then retire early 
I hopefully will have this attitude in a year but still being a bit new to the game and seeing my customers dismay when I clean there windows in the rain , even though I explain th them the situation, I try and make it so if we have 1 day a week real bad weather I can catch up on the better days

 
I don't know what part of the country you are in but you do sound to be a bit on the cheap side. £500 for 25 hours work I make to be £20 per hour. That might be part of the reason why you have generated so much work so quickly. I was given a basic pricing formula when I started 8 years ago that made most jobs approximately £30 per hour. I use a similar formula now but add on 20% or more.

The problem you now have, if you are successful quoting at a much higher price you end up disliking doing the old jobs at the lower rates and they'll be so far in price from your new work you won't feel able to increase them to where they should be. On top of that you've got the fact that they are your original, loyal customers so you won't want to drop them. I have exactly the same problem. I do keep pushing the prices but some of the originals are a long way from where they would be if it was a new enquiry. Did one yesterday at £25, would be closer to £35 if it was a new customer.

 
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I don't know what part of the country you are in but you do sound to be a bit on the cheap side. £500 for 25 hours work I make to be £20 per hour. That might be part of the reason why you have generated so much work so quickly. I was given a basic pricing formula when I started 8 years ago that made most jobs approximately £30 per hour. I use a similar formula now but add on 20% or more.

The problem you now have, if you are successful quoting at a much higher price you end up disliking doing the old jobs at the lower rates and they'll be so far in price from your new work you won't feel able to increase them to where they should be. On top of that you've got the fact that they are your original, loyal customers so you won't want to drop them. I have exactly the same problem. I do keep pushing the prices but some of the originals are a long way from where they would be if it was a new enquiry. Did one yesterday at £25, would be closer to £35 if it was a new customer.
You are right. I don't know exactly how many hours a day, some are 3 and some are 5.5 and always work a Saturday on a bigger job. So easy work. On my best run of houses I average £56 per hour but I also have a day where I average £18 per hour as there all spread out ?. It's still alot better than the £12 an hour before tax I got for lorry driving but I would much prefer the £56 an hour runs. Just like yourself I try and hit £30 an hour wherever I can. Still learning though . What I find crazy still is some customers wil pay £20 for there house and it's half the size of some customers who are adiment the most they will pay is £12. It's crazy sometimes and leaves me speechless. 

I did some houses on a nice street yesterday and a man came across the road with his wife. All he wanted doing was one side barge board cleaning as he was putting up Xmas lights. They were both in there 60s and absolutely lovely. I said it will take me 10 mins and let me come back after all my jobs. Went back took me 10 mins and looked amazing. I said it will be £10 and they came out with £20 and a bottle of wine....they were thrilled with how it changed the look of there house and now got an annual conservatory roof out of them......£20 for that and some customers with 6 bedrooms and a conservatory turn there nose up at £20......the only part of the job that can really **** me off....

 
You will never work people out. That’s how it is I’m afraid. Some are much more willing to pay than others. 
you have done really well in 8 months. Hope your enjoying it apart from the odd niggle here and there. Hope your first winter goes ok. 

 
annual conservatory roof out of them......£20 for that and some customers with 6 bedrooms and a conservatory turn there nose up at £20......the only part of the job that can really **** me off....
A conny roof at £20 that does sound very very cheap. Surely that takes more than 30 mins pulling up to pulling away? Not to mention a bit for chemicals. Don't sell yourself too cheap. Work smarter not harder. Maybe start pricing things based on £40 an hour and see how you go. I realise you are comparing to what you used to do but you have to remember you used to get what 22 days paid holiday a year and sick pay and didn't have to pay for your van or equipment, fuel, insurance etc.... 

£10 for 10mins work is good but anyone thinking a job is only worth £10 is thinking way too low. It's not just your time they are paying for it's your equipment and skill as well. Could the nice couple have done the job themselves? No so it's your equipment and skill they are paying for.

Sounds like you could up your earnings by a decent amount just by upping your prices a bit. No need to be greedy but time each job as if it were the only 1 in the street not 'its only £15 as I am already in the street'. If you can compact your round you should earn more not give custys cheaper cleaning!! You are in business to earn money.

All that said you are doing well after 7 months and if you are happy then no problems but would a few more ££ in the bank make you more content????

 
You will never work people out. That’s how it is I’m afraid. Some are much more willing to pay than others. 
you have done really well in 8 months. Hope your enjoying it apart from the odd niggle here and there. Hope your first winter goes ok. 
Cheers mate. The colds never been an issue for me as for the last seven used I've been getting up at 3am to strap loads down on wagons....so this is great....but people ......the differnce is speechless. I have 2 houses next to eachother ......litterally semi detached.....and when I started I quoted one of them £9 . It's a bit out my way but had time.....anyway last week there neighbour popped over fence and said can they have there's done monthly.....I was going to drop the area as I'm so busy in my own , so I said it will be £20.....thinking I would I stantly lose it......he said great and can be have it monthly......for about 8 windows ???. Now all if a sudden it makes it worth it to travel there....let's hope they don't talk ??

 
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